IEA aims to halve road transport fuel use by 2050

9/19/2012

By SARAH KENT

LONDON -- The tools are at hand to halve the fuel used by the world's transport sector by 2050, but government action is needed to encourage the use of better technology and fuel efficiency improvements and prevent demand reaching unsustainable levels, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

One way or another we need to reduce the dependency of the transport sector on oil, said the IEA's deputy executive director, Ambassador Richard Jones, adding governments must take political action to promote fuel efficient technologies.

In two reports published Wednesday, the IEA said there was massive potential for fuel efficiency improvements to reduce demand for transport fuels by 2050, even if the number of vehicles on the road double over the same period.

The reports highlight technology already available or about to enter the mainstream market that is capable of significantly improving fuel efficiency.

The uptake of these technologies should be encouraged by government policy packages, the IEA writes in Policy Pathway: Improving the Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles.

Better labeling, fiscal policy and standards should all be used to in the next decade to start the necessary turnover of inefficient vehicle stocks, the IEA says.